IT'S ON
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28th Annual CIAA Women’s Basketball Tournament
Tuesday, February 26, 2002
Lady Eagles Squeak by Lady Golden Bulls – Advance to Friday’s Semi-final
RALEIGH, NC – When it’s one and gone in tournament play, you can throw those regular season meetings right out the window.
While winning the Central Intercollegiate Athletic Association Western Division, the Lady Eagles of North Carolina Central University beat the Lady Golden Bulls of Johnson C. Smith University convincingly twice.
The Lady Eagles struggled all night against the slight underdog Lady Golden Bulls, but used a 9-1 run in the game’s final 3:32 to win, 59-51. The Lady Eagles hit seven-of-10 free throws during that stretch while the Lady Golden Bulls, who had shot 50 percent up to that time, missed their last seven field goal attempts of the game.
The Lady Eagles (22-5) will now face the Lady Rams of Winston-Salem State University in Friday’s semi-final at 1 p.m.
Amba Kongolo, the 2002 CIAA Player of the Year, exerted her will late in the game, scoring 12 of her 22 points in the final 7:55 of the game. She would finish with game-highs of 22 points and 20 rebounds. Zakia VanHoose had 14 points and four steals, Shenika Worthy had 11 points and Ivana Bailey had 12 rebounds.
Her free throws at the 3:32 mark of the second half gave the Lady Eagles their first lead of the second half at 52-50, and it was just the second time the Lady Golden Bulls (19-9) would trail in the game.
The Lady Golden Bulls would close the gap to 52-51 on a Krystal Wesson free throw with 2:16 left, but after VanHoose hit a jumper in the lane to give the Lady Eagles a 54-51 lead with 1:51 to play, the Lady Golden Bulls would not score again.
“We struggled in the first half, but we just didn’t give up,” said Lady Eagles’ head coach Joli Robinson. “We knew if we played hard on defense we could get what we wanted out of the ball game and that’s what happened.”
Both teams struggled with turnovers, the Lady Eagles committed 24 while the Lady Golden Bulls committed 29. The Lady Eagles shot horribly (19-64), just 29 percent from the field, but they saved themselves by outrebounding the Lady Golden Bulls 48-34.
Joi Surratt led the Lady Golden Bulls with 17 points, Blanche Doctor had 12 points, 12 rebounds and nine assists, Lauren Goss had 11 points and Cassandra Penn dished out four assists.
The Lady Golden Bulls first took their biggest lead of the game 38-30 with just over 15 minutes to play, keyed by consecutive layups by Doctor. Doctor would score the Lady Golden Bulls next two baskets as well and the lead was 40-32.
VanHoose would shake loose for two straight 3-pointers, however, to quickly bring the Lady Eagles back to within 40-38 with 12:44 to go.
The Eagles had just one lead in the first half, 24-22, at the 4:13 mark on a Beatty layup off a steal by Cole. That basket capped a Lady Eagles’ 6-0 run.
The Lady Golden Bulls led by as many as seven in the first half. Their 18-11 lead was the result of an 8-2 run of their own with Surratt knocking down two treys. The Lady Eagles would get back in the game at that point as Kongolo put in two short jumpers and Cole hit a 3-pointer.
Despite Kongolo scoring eight points and grabbing eight rebounds in the first half, the Lady Golden Bulls did a good job defensively denying her the ball down low. That helped lead to the Lady Eagles’ 16 first-half turnovers and their outside shooting (two-of-13 from behind the arc) did not help loosen things up inside.